were furnished with a double row of very sharp talons, made one of the best soups we had ever tafted. The albatroffes now began to leave us, and after the 1769. March. 8th there was not one to be feen. We continued our Wednes. 8. course without any memorable event till the 24th, when Friday 24. fome of the people who were upon the watch in the night, reported that they faw a log of wood pafs by the fhip; and that the fea, which was rather rough, became fuddenly as fmooth as a mill-pond. It was a general opinion, that there was land to the windward; but I did not think myself at liberty to fearch for what I was not fure to find; though I judged we were not far from the islands that were difcovered by Quiros in 1605. Our latitude was 22° 11' S. and longitude 127° 55' W. I On the 25th, about noon, one of the marines, a Satur. 25. young fellow about twenty, was placed as centry at the cabin door; while he was upon this duty, one of my fervants was at the fame place preparing to cut a piece of feal-skin into tobacco-pouches: he had promifed one to several of the men, but had refused one to this young fellow, though he had afked him feveral times; upon which he jocularly threatened to steal one, if it should be in his power. It happened that the fervant being called haftily away, gave the fkin in charge to the centinel, without regarding what had paffed between them. The centinel immediately fecured a piece of the skin, which the other missing at his return, grew angry; but after fome altercation, contented himself with taking it away, declaring, that, for fo trifling an affair, he would not complain of him to the officers. But it happened that one of his fellow-foldiers, over-hearing the difpute, came to the knowledge of what had happened, and teld it to the reft; who, taking it into their heads to ftand up for the honour of their corps, reproached the offender with great bitterness, and reviled him in the most opprobrious terms; they exaggerated his offence into a crime of the deepest dye; they said it was a theft by a centry when he was upon duty, and of a thing that had been committed to his truft; they declared it a difgrace to affociate with him; and the Serjeant, in particular, March. 1769. particular, faid that, if the perfon from whom the fkin had been ftolen would not complain, he would complain himfelf; for that his honour would fuffer if the offender was not punished. From the fcoffs and reproaches of thefe men of honour, the poor young fellow retired to his hammock in an agony of confufion and fhame. The Serjeant foon after went to him, and ordered him to follow him to the deck; he obeyed without reply; but it being in the dufk of the evening, he flipped from the Serjeant and went forward: he was feen by fome of the people, who thought he was gone to the head; but a fearch being made for him afterwards, it was found that he had thrown himself overboard; and I was then firft made acquainted with the theft and its circumftances. April. Inland, The lofs of this man was the more regretted, as he was remarkably quiet and industrious, and as the very action that put an end to his life was a proof of an ingenuous mind; for to fuch only disgrace is infupportable. On Tuesday the 4th of April, about ten o'clock in Tuefd. 4. the morning, Mr. Banks's fervant, Peter Briscoe, difLagoon- covered land, bearing fouth, at the distance of about three or four leagues. I immediately hauled up for it, and found it to be an island of an oval form, with a lagoon in the middle, which occupied much the larger part of it; the border of land which circumfcribes the lagoon is in many places very low and narrow, particularly on the fouth fide, where it contists principally of a beach or reef of rocks: it has the fame appearance alfo in three places on the north fide; fo that the firm land being disjoined, the whole looks like many islands covered with wood. On the weft end of the island is a large tree, or clump of trees, that in appearance refembles a tower; and about the middle are two cocoanut trees, which rife above all the reft, and, as we came near to the island, appeared like a flag. We approached it on the north fide, and though we came within a mile, we found no bottom with 130 fathoms of line, nor did there appear to be any anchorage about it. The whole is covered with trees of different verdure, but we could diftinguish none, even with our glaffes, except cocoa-nuts and palm-nuts. We faw fe yeral veral of the natives upon the fhore, and counted four and twenty. They appeared to be tall, and to have heads remarkably large; perhaps they had fomething wound round them which we could not diftinguish; they were of a copper colour, and had long black hair. Eleven of them walked along the beach a-breast of the fhip, with poles or pikes in their hands, which reached twice as high as themfelves; while they walked on the beach they feemed to be naked; but foon after they retired, which they did as foon as the ship had paffed the island, and covered themselves with fomething that made them appear of a light colour. Their habitations were under fome clumps of palm-nut trees, which at a diftance appeared like high ground; and to us, who for a long time had feen nothing but water and sky, except the dreary hills of Terra del Fuego, thefe groves feemed a terrestrial paradife. To this spot, which lies in latitude 18° 47′ S. and longitude 139° 28′ W. we gave the name of LAGOON-ISLAND. The variation of the needle here is 20 54' E. 1769. April. About one o'clock we made fail to the westward, and about half an hour after three we faw land again to the N. W. We got up with it at fun-fet, and it proved to be a low woody ifland, of a circular form, and not much above a mile in compafs. We difcovered no inhabitants, nor could we distinguish any cocoa-nut trees, though we were within half a mile of the shore. The land, however, was covered with verdure of many hues. It lies in latitude 18° 35' S. and longitude 139° 48' W. and is diftant from Lagoon-Ifland, in the direction of N. 62 W. about feven leagues. We called it THRUMB-CAP. I difcovered, by the appearance Thrumbof the fhore, that at this place it was low-water; and Cap. I had discovered at Lagoon-Ifland, that it was either high-water, or that the fea neither ebbed nor flowed: I infer, therefore, that a S. by E. or South moon makes high water. We went on with a fine trade-wind and pleasant weather, and on the 5th, about three in the afternoon, Wednef. 5. we difcovered land to the weftward. It proved to be a low island, of much greater extent than either of thofe Bow Island. that we had feen before, being about ten or twelve leagues 1769. April. leagues in compafs. Several of us remained at the masthead the whole evening, admiring its extraordinary figure-It was fhaped exactly like a bow, the arch and cord of which were land, and the space between them water; the cord was a flat beach, without any figns of vegetation, having nothing upon it, but heaps of fea-weed, which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower tides had left them. It appeared to be about three or four leagues long, and not more than two hundred yards wide; but as a horizontal plain is always feen in perspective, and greatly fore-shortened, it is certainly much wider than it appeared: the horns, or extremities of the bow, were two large tufts of cocoanut trees; and much the greater part of the arch was covered with trees of different height, figure and hue; in fome parts, however, it was naked and low like the cord: fome of us thought we difcovered openings through the cord, into the pool, or lake, that was included between that and the bow; but whether there were or were not fuch openings is uncertain. We failed a-breast of the low beach, or bow-ftring, within lefs than a league of the shore, till funfet, and we then judged ourselves to be about half way between the two horns; here we brought to, and founded, but found no bottom with one hundred and thirty fathoms; and, as it is dark almost instantly after funfet in thefe latitudes, we fuddenly loft fight of the land, and making fail again, before the line was well hauled in, we steered by the found of the breakers, which were diftin&tly heard till we got clear of the coast. We knew this ifland to be inhabited, by fmoke which we faw in different parts of it, and we gave it the name of Bow-ISLAND. Mr. Gore, my Second Lieutenant, faid, after we had failed by the ifland, that he had seen several of the natives, under the first clump of trees, from the deck; that he had distinguished their houses, and feen feveral canoes hauled up under the fhade; but in this he was more fortunate than any other person on board. The eaft end of this ifland, which from its figure we called the Bow, lies in latitude 18° 23' S. and longitude 141° 12' W. we obferved the variation of the compafs to be 50 38' E. On 1769. April. On the next day, Thursday the 6th, about noon, we faw land again to the westward, and came up with it about three. It appeared to be two islands, or ra- Thurid. 6. The ther groups of iflands, extending from N. W. by N. Groups. to S. E. by S. about nine leagues. Of these, the two largest were separated from each other by a channel of about half a mile broad, and were feverally furrounded by smaller iflands, to which they were joined by reefs that lay under water. Thefe iflands were long narrow ftrips of land, ranged in all directions, fome of them ten miles or upwards in length, but none more than a quarter of a mile broad, and upon all of them there were trees of various kinds, particularly the cocoa-nut. The fouth-eaftermost of them lies in the latitude 18° 12' S. and longitude 142° 42′ W. and at the distance of twenty-five leagues, in the direction of W. N. from the weft end of Bow Inland. We ranged along the S. W. fide of this ifland, and hauled into a bay which lies to the N. W. of the fouthermoft point of the group, where there was a fmooth fea, and the appearance of anchorage, without much furf on the shore. We founded, but found no bottom with one hundred fathoms, at the distance of no more than three quarters of a mile from the beach, and I did not think it prudent to go nearer. While this was doing, feveral of the inhabitants affembled upon the shore, and fome came out in their canoes as far as the reefs, but would not pass them : when we saw this, we ranged, with an eafy fail, along the shore, but just as we were paffing the end of the ifland, fix men, who had for fome time kept a-breast of the fhip, fuddenly launched two canoes with great quicknefs and dexterity, and three of them getting into each, they put off, as we imagined, with a defign to come on board us; the fhip was therefore brought to, but they, like their fellows, flopped at the reef; we did not however immediately make fail, as we obferved two mcffengers dispatched to them from the other canoes, which were of a much larger fize; we perceived that thefe meffengers made great expedition, wading and fwimming along the reef; at length they met, and the men on board the canoes making no difpofitions to pass the reef, after having received the mef fage, |